1. Field of The Invention
The invention relates generally to bottle holders and especially to wine bottle storage.
In particular, this invention concerns a wine rack for supporting a plurality of bottles lying on their sides.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The proper storage of bottled wines, spirits and beers is important since these beverages can represent a sizable investment especially when large purchases are involved; therefore they should be treated with care and due regard for their perishable qualities. The generally accepted manner for storing wines in order to keep the wine "healthy" is to place the bottle in a bin so that it rests on its side and the cork stays moist. This prevents the cork from drying out and allowing air to enter the bottle; with sparkling wines a dried out cork permits the gas to escape resulting in a "flat" wine. Ideally, the bins should be located in a well ventilated, cool, dark place having a fairly constant temperature of about 55.degree. to 60.degree. F.
The storage facility should be designed so as to avoid unnecessary movement or vibration of the bottles which can disturb the sediment therein.
The wine bins or racks of the prior art conventionally provide a bottle cradling surface transverse to the bottle for supporting the bottle usually at two points, at the neck portion and near the bottom. Many of these racks are erected with a honeycomb framework being made of metal, plastic or wood sections which are assembled to form a support stand. These structures commonly provide a support surface which is recessed to conform to a particular bottle shape. Other variations in design such as a diagonal cross braced structure are also utilized wherein the bottles are stored within a criss-cross bin shaped opening. Such devices, however, are limited in the range of different shape bottles which they can accommodate and in their storage capacities. This restriction on the type and quantity of bottles which can be stored is a distinct shortcoming of the prior art.
Furthermore, these wine racks in many cases do not provide the stability necessary to prevent joggling of the bottles. Another shortcoming of these wine racks is that the bottle supporting surface, especially that portion adjacent the bottle neck, frequently obscures the labels on the bottles and consequently a bottle must be provided with special tags or otherwise lifted from the rack in order to ascertain this identifying data. Such unnecessary movement of the wine bottles can have an adverse effect and is not recommended for proper wine storage.
The improved wine rack of this invention overcomes many of these problems and accordingly provides a stable, free-standing rigid support structure for the storage of wine bottles. The bottles as supported on their sides can be easily slid out of the rack without disturbance of adjacent bottles. Furthermore, the rack of the present invention has a plurality of bottle berths which can accommodate a wide range of different bottle shapes and sizes. Another advantage of this wine rack is that the bottle berths are arranged such that the bottle labels are more clearly visible thus avoiding the need to remove a bottle for identification or to otherwise affix hang tags.
A further feature of this wine rack is that the support structure is comprised of relatively few basic components which can easily be assembled. The rack is also adaptable for accepting supplementary sections for expanding the storage capacity.